Xeon E3-1230 V2 compatibility (vs other Ivy Bridge chips)

[objective-x]

Hello,

I've been speccing out potential hackintosh builds since the LGA 775 days, but the Ivy Bridge chips may finally push me into actually building one. Here's what the build would look like:

- Gigabyte Z68xp-ud3
- The Gigabyte Radeon 6850 linked on tony's recommended builds page
- DIY Broadcom BCM94322MC/PCI-e wireless
- Existing Antec case/PSU/storage

While I was initially going to use an i7, the Ivy Bridge-based Xeon E3-1230 V2 looks to have the performance of an i7 with the cost of an i5. It really is the modern Intel chip I've been waiting for (power-efficient x86 performance without spending die area on integrated graphics).

There seem to be a few builds on this forum with it, but since this will be my first hackintosh attempt, I wanted to double-check to see if there are any additional hurdles the Xeon must overcome, compared with the 'consumer' Ivy Bridge chips.

 

[Jamesbond007]

Hello,

I've been speccing out potential hackintosh builds since the LGA 775 days, but the Ivy Bridge chips may finally push me into actually building one. Here's what the build would look like:

- Gigabyte Z68xp-ud3
- The Gigabyte Radeon 6850 linked on tony's recommended builds page
- DIY Broadcom BCM94322MC/PCI-e wireless
- Existing Antec case/PSU/storage

While I was initially going to use an i7, the Ivy Bridge-based Xeon E3-1230 V2 looks to have the performance of an i7 with the cost of an i5. It really is the modern Intel chip I've been waiting for (power-efficient x86 performance without spending die area on integrated graphics).

There seem to be a few builds on this forum with it, but since this will be my first hackintosh attempt, I wanted to double-check to see if there are any additional hurdles the Xeon must overcome, compared with the 'consumer' Ivy Bridge chips.

The most important thing to see is whether the specific motherboard does support the Xeon E3-1230 V2. As for your motherboard, "normal" Ivy Bridge CPUs like the 3770 are supported with the latest BIOS but the 1230 V2 is not listed in the CPU support list so it may not work on it.

 

[objective-x]

The most important thing to see is whether the specific motherboard does support the Xeon E3-1230 V2. As for your motherboard, "normal" Ivy Bridge CPUs like the 3770 are supported with the latest BIOS but the 1230 V2 is not listed in the CPU support list so it may not work on it.

Ah I see. Based on the Newegg reviews, the trend seemed to be that, while most consumer boards didn't officially support it, the Xeon ran just fine.

Actually, looking at the recent z68xp-ud3, it seems like there are a lot of board failures around 6 months. I checked out a Z77-based alternative (ga-z77x-d3h) and the Xeon is on the support list.

I suppose my original question was about whether the OS X drivers were more picky than the motherboard about which CPUs were natively supported by the new kernel.

 

[Jamesbond007]

Ah I see. Based on the Newegg reviews, the trend seemed to be that, while most consumer boards didn't officially support it, the Xeon ran just fine.

Actually, looking at the recent z68xp-ud3, it seems like there are a lot of board failures around 6 months. I checked out a Z77-based alternative (ga-z77x-d3h) and the Xeon is on the support list.

I suppose my original question was about whether the OS X drivers were more picky than the motherboard about which CPUs were natively supported by the new kernel.

It is true that for the old Xeon E3-1230 (not V2), most Sandy Bridge motherboards seem to support it. But the same may not be true for the Xeon E3-1230 V2.

 

[objective-x]

It is true that for the old Xeon E3-1230 (not V2), most Sandy Bridge motherboards seem to support it. But the same may not be true for the Xeon E3-1230 V2.

Cool, that makes sense. I was originally looking to save some money by grabbing a cheaper 6-series board, but I think the 7-series' explicit support for the Xeon along with reduced reliance on DSDTs for power management is steering me toward the ga-z77x-d3h (I have a USB sound card so the VIA audio shouldn't be a significant obstacle).